The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1887-02-06

chcsa, but princess or queen,
"On the latter point was somewhat skcpt-
cal for the beauty which knocks the average
Italian all OF heap is apt 10 he too ilorid for
my taste. l'ui, by ,Ioyc, sir ] was punished
" my sllcpiicsml The moment ] saw her !
knew II was all UP with me. She came, ! saw,
shcconqucrcd She wasn't very young thirty ut
lcast-lut her beauty had Just reached its maiur.
ity without losnga ioi ofits freshness. She was
tall aud finely proportional, black haired, olive
skinned, rcd-lippcl oval-faccd; and, OH If You
could have seen how her head was set on hct
shoulders, aud with what u lovely motion of
her neck she would turn her face maicsiically
toward you, and let her two great eyes blaze
upon YOU positively blaze like like do you
know the way the new Calais phdrc sends shaft
on shaft of hliil,limg light sweeping slowly round
the farthcst horizonY'
This burst Of enthusiasm left my old friend
out of breath and he came 10 sudden pause,
illustrating by rotuud gesture the sweep OF
the Calais ligh, and of the marchcsa's eyes.
"You'rc getting quite Mussc-ish,' ] said
"Avez-vous va, dams i,arcconc,
Tine Andulousc an scn bruni.
Pale CONNIE nm beau soir daulomncH
C'cst ma niaitrcssc ma llonnc!
Ih Marlucsa UAinncgui.'"
THAT'S about it," said Sir Marmadukc; "and
now come TO think of II, Mussct was her
favoritc poet, Well, needn't tell you how we
made acquaintance with each other, or how our
acquaintance ripcncd. She was educated and
accomplished far beyond the Italian average
spoke English and French almost as well as her
mother-tonguc, had read much IN these three
languages, sang with splendid contralto voice.
and dressed with studied and sober simplicity
Indeed, she was still In half mourning for her
husband, the departed mnrchcsc, at whose death
one of the most ancient Ncapolitan families he
came extinct. Since then she had lived with
relatives In Paris but, though her English accent
was of the utmost purity. she had never crossed
the Channel. Her Partisan friends had left for
South America; and, as the climate of Naples
did not suit her, no, to mention the gloomy as
sociations the place must ever have for her, she
had determined To settle In North Italy, and
lead quiet life of study and bcnciiccncc.
ITO say that fell IN love with her would he
In misstato the case. was forty, she scarcely
ten years Younger; aud there was self reliance,
not To say cf.suflicicncy, In her character which
put all tenderness out OF the question. She
was a being Ia be worshipcd, not caressed.
Even after she was my ailianccd wife our rcla-
tions were courtly rather than cordial She
was not precisely cold hut she seemed to feel.
as too felt, that sicl, beauty as hers must 70
hand-inhand with perfect dignity, and that
playfulncss would ill-besccm her as 1t would
the Agrippina of the capitol. felt toward
her as toward unique thing of beauty Have
You never thought, In presence of some SUI
prcmc work of art-thc' Sistine Madonna, for
example, or the Venus of Milo-tat you should
like to sell all you had and buy that one thing,
even though yon should end, like Frankcn-
stein, In becoming n slave to it, Well. that
was something like my feelings toward the
Murclcsa I.ilcrczia. | thought her, or rather
knew her, to be one of the lovelicst beings ever
created: AMI had mn insane desire TO call this
phn,iN mine ms Faiistus longcd for
The face iint launched II Thousand ships
AMI burnt the toplcs' towers ri Hum
| You socialists may say what You like; but as
| human nature IL constituted there will always
be II peculiar, poignant pleasure IN the sense
| of monopoly. Another thing which determined
| me to ailront what could no, but recognize as
the pcrils of mltrlmony was the thought of
| the long face my confounded cousin would pull
| when he heard of my marriage, hut that was a
minor motive. ] was IN reality under spell,
quite completely as any OF those fellows In the
medieval ballads"
"Sir Marmadukc 1annhauser," put in
"'ich hah In nicincn slime:
fraw Venus, cilc fraw 50 z,rt
IT. scind ninc tcuiclinnc.'"
| Don't 20 too fast" said Sir Marmaiuke
''wait and see"
| "Well, the day fixed for our marriage drew
near, he continued. at was to he absolutely
| private. Iucrczia expressed horror of fes
| tivites, especially at u second marriage; aud
chucklcd at the idea Of sprnging the news o
| my friends aud relations lincluding my hcii
| prcsumptivc) through the first column Of tn,
Times Our wedding tour was To he in the
| East. Lucre2ia dreaded the English climate
| and, ms DR.. johnson said Of clean linen, Il my
self sir, have no passion for it, So We looked
| forward TO living permanently south of th,
| Alps.
"onc day | happened to row across to III,
| Isula lie Pcscatori, ON some charitable crrand
| of the marchcsas, and there, strolling about III
the one narrow street, | met Philips. llad
| known him intimately at Oxford, hut We had
lost sight of eacll other for ten ar fifteen years
and we were both glad to meet again. lie wa,
stopping, he said, ai Pallan2a; 40 made hin
dismiss his barcI and promised 10 put hin
over 10 the mainland in my own sailing boat
| There was very little wind, 50 ON tue way W,
had long talk over old times.
"Onc fad Of his remained implanted in IN,
memory, because used sometimes 10 riiille III
otherwise imperiurlablc temper by chatting
him on the subject He was a devout believer II
| the possibility of reading character In hand
| writing, and used to devote n good deal of tim,
and study to what ! then regarded ms nler,
superstition. | asked linn il he still kept NJ
his craze, as called it, and he answered, witt
smile and n shrug that he did. A silldcl
idea occurred 10 me. ! found In my pocket
note from the marchcsa-a mere business letter
concluding with an invitation TO dinner, AM
written, moreover, in Italian, which Philips
had just been telling me that he did not under
stand, She wrote particularly masculin,
hand: so, In the hopes that he would not dis
cover even the sex of the writer, tore oil til,
signature -'licreziu.' Then | handed II I,
Philips, AMI asked him for n diagnosis Of tn,
| writer's character.
81 watched his expression lie examined
the writing. At the first glance he raised hi
eyebrows and compressed his lips with the al
of a man who finds himself face lo face with uI
unexpected problem. Then he wrinkled hi
eyebrows together till they hung forward like
penthouse over his eyes and pcercd micro
scopicaly into each stroke curve, and dot of TIN
whole letter. The examination lasted, ! an
sure, u good live minutes, during which ncithe
of us spoke.
AT last he looked straight mp at me, ant
said: Are you much interested IN this Lady,
."Ah, then yon know IT'S lady replied
a little taken aback.
'"l know more than that he said solcmnly
and as he tapped the paper with his foreilnger
he added: This writing is the writing Of
murieress y
81 let 90 the helm and sprang forward with
cry, almost capsizing the little boat. Sh
return to my post else believe | should hav
assaulted him.
:" Come, Philips, said "a jokes joke, bu
this Is carrying tlcthing little too far
"If II Were n joke he said, 1T would he II
the worst possible taste, hut am In sobe
earnest.
"'You'rc mad | said; this tomfoolery o
yours has become monomania Let me tel
you that | am bound Ia marry the lady wh'
wrote that letter
"'Then, all can say is,' he rcpiel-'and re
member, I'm In solemn earnest-all can sa
is, your life's not worth a twclvemonth's pur
chase lie again examined the letter care
fully, and then said: Believe me or not, Il
u
ess. And can tell you more-the hand tina
formed these letters has clasped a stietto--tha
Is her weapon
"'Poohn said beginning, in spite of my
self, 10 he somewhat impressed. DO you TAX
me for n child? II she had been n poisoner,
suppose You could have told from her hand
writing whether she used aniimony or arsenic
That's as may be- was the answer. 'Wha
do see In the present ease Is that the han
which wrote this has used cold iron DO yo
know the lady's past historyg'
- know she's widow replied.
"'That's not improbable said he.
"'And that her husband was NeapOlta
nobleman, ] continued
"'llum = he said, and proceeded 10 cross-qiei
tion me In such a way as 10 show me, what In
really never occurred 10 me, that | had II
onc's evidence but her own as Ia singl
l fact of her past life, Al last, driven into a col
ner exclaimed, mpatiently, Then what d
you propose that ! should doY ! cant go I
her aud say, "Marchesa, neeromancer Of m
, acquaintance assures me that you have assass
! mated some one-probably the late lamcnte
marquia. Pray Is This true -
"'Let me think Philips replied. Ther
: after pause while he again looked at the lei
ter, Your plan Is To take her by surprise. sli
is evidently Of high-strung, nervous temperi
mcnt
'''lhcrc you're wrong | nteIruptrl